Match Preview/Thread - Morton vs Arbroath (28th January)

[port-ton]

8 minutes ago, Mr.Blue said:

Poor poor performing today. Looked like a team full of strangers. Too many changes in personell and tactics. Thought baird, O'connor, grimshaw and Oakley were OK. Schwake's awful freekick led to their first goal, King and Pignatiello really poor, blues and Crawford anonymous, Miller showed glimpses of what he could offer snd Muirhead also anonymous.  We were so stretched on the wings and Arbroath knew this which led to their second goal. Which was a tremendous finish. The officials were shite but we cant keep hiding behind that as were deserved nothing. That's 3 defeats in the last 3 league games and the performances have been completely unacceptable- lethargic, pedestrian like, very little attacking football on show. Dougie needs to sort this and quickly or we can say goodbye to any hope of the playoffs. Just saw today's results to amd its an opportunity missed. 

 

It was definitely a narrower formation today although it still seemed to be 4-3-3 when we were attacking with Miller joining the front two. 

I actually said to my mate after about 10 mins when we were still on top that narrow midfield formations are fine until the opposition figures it out and exploits it and that's exactly what the Arbroath players/Campbell did and we didn't really do anything to stop it despite it being obvious in the first half the issues we were having. 

[GiGi]

Thought Miller was a complete waste of a shirt most of that game. Twice I can remember him getting to the byeline before overhitting crosses, the rest of the time he was just pulling out of tackles or hiding. Not impressed at all, would have McGrattan or Quitongo over that any day.

[DumfriesTon]

We desperately need McGrattan back in the side. He gives us that composure that we don't have without him. Arguably the only player that can control a ball and find a man. Everyone else is just kick and rush.

[RossMcC1874]

9 minutes ago, GiGi said:

Thought Miller was a complete waste of a shirt most of that game. Twice I can remember him getting to the byeline before overhitting crosses, the rest of the time he was just pulling out of tackles or hiding. Not impressed at all, would have McGrattan or Quitongo over that any day.

Agree totally I have no idea why McGrattan now seems to be a bench player and only get the odd sub appearance. For me I think he has been the most improved player this season. 

[Scott]

Ever since McGrattan dropped out the starting 11 our form and performances have dipped. I’m not sure why it took so long for Imrie to get him on. 

[Mr.Blue]

Wouldn't be against going 3-5-2 if left back is going to be an issue for us.

Schwake

O'connor  Ambrose Baird

Grimmy Gillespie blues Crawford McGrattan 

Quitongo Muirhead/Oakley

[irnbru]

2 hours ago, Mr.Blue said:

Wouldn't be against going 3-5-2 if left back is going to be an issue for us.

Schwake

O'connor  Ambrose Baird

Grimmy Gillespie blues Crawford McGrattan 

Quitongo Muirhead/Oakley

Aye, I think that's maybe the way to go. King might be a bit more comfortable in that shape too although it's probably not playing to Grimshaws strengths. 

[Alibi]

Can Reece Lyon be recalled from Annan? Would be another option in midfield.

[Mr.Blue]

1 hour ago, Alibi said:

Can Reece Lyon be recalled from Annan? Would be another option in midfield.

I'd imagine he could and previously I'd have been saying the same but I don't think he's the answer to be honest. 

Dougie said we are waiting on a club getting back to us about a player. Hopefully it's another midfielder and he comes in soon.

Re the players that have come in.  I'm all for giving Miller, Roy and Oakley a chance. I actually think Miller has been ok so far in spells but I wonder if we have maybe brought in one too many in the forward areas? I'd have been happy with Muirhead, quitongo, mcgrattan, Miller and Oakley. The Roy signing seems like a waste of a wage at the moment.

[EanieMeany]

Yesterday was a bit of a wake-up call for anyone who was under the illusion that the last 10 games or so were some sort of aberration. Yes, having as many away games is tough but it didn’t paint a false picture, it laid bare the glaring deficiencies in our team and it needs to be sorted quickly.

I really don’t know what that formation was all about, we started brightly and it was a lovely goal but Arbroath very quickly sussed us out and just completely  outplayed and downright bullied us. Maybe the ref let them away with a bit much, but there’s not really much point complaining about it, not when you get shown up so badly on all fronts and don’t have any answers to it. 

Whilst King quite surprisingly looked terrified every time he got the ball (it seems very clear that he is not a full-back, he just didn’t seem to know where he was or where to go) and Miller largely disappeared after the first half hour or so, for the most part Arbroath didn’t really do too much down their side (but still too much), but got no end of joy bypassing our midfield on the right hand side (shock horror). I really don’t know what it’s going to take for Imrie to get over his obsession with Cameron Blues but it really needs to stop immediately: put McGrattan in his place and send Blues to the Port Juniors to see if he can get a game there. It’s quite alarming that it’s been allowed to go on for so long, it was one thing when the rest of the team (McGrattan in particular, or Wilson last season) was mitigating his presence but it’s another altogether to persist with him when that safety net is no longer there, and another yet again to seemingly just dispense with a player outside him like we seen yesterday. Let’s be very clear here: if Gus MacPherson was doing that, nobody would be trying to kid themselves on about it.

Elsewhere, for all the “you can’t actually get good forwards” talk, Arbroath went and got Olusanya from St Mirren whilst we got Ally Roy and Calvin Miller. A wee dick he may well be but he was better than anything we have.  Every attacking signing Imrie has made has been rotten (excluding Oakley, on yesterday’s evidence), and to be brutally honest, his utilisation of them has been found wanting too. For all that his work overall has been exceptional, that’s been the case since he came in to some extent or other (see his refusal to even take Ugwu off last season no matter how poor he was and to give Muirhead and Reilly a run together) and whilst it’s previously been mitigated by the solidity elsewhere, that’s no longer the case: we haven’t kept a clean sheet in 11 games and scoring a mere 29 goals in 21 games isn’t going to cut it if you’re giving almost as many away. We should keep in mind that 9 of those goals came in just 2 games. That simply isn’t good enough and we really need to be doing much better.

The winning goal was an absolute beauty though. McKenna is miles better than anybody we (or most teams) have, and Tam O’Brian and Ricky Little are quite comfortably the best defenders in the league. I know you probably shouldn’t really enjoy watching opposition defenders but it’s hard not to admire them, including just how nasty they can be. It must be a nightmare to play against them. Baird and O’Connor are very good as well, but their two are a cut above again.

[BishopBrennan]

2 hours ago, Alibi said:

Can Reece Lyon be recalled from Annan? Would be another option in midfield.

Loans can't be terminated within the first 28 days. Given that his loan deal had to be extended in January, by the time the 28 days have passed the transfer window will be shut, meaning we couldn't recall him. So he's there until the end of the season. 

That said, I don't think Lyon is the answer to our issues in there. We have an energetic midfield and Lyon definitely doesn't fit that mould. We do need another midfielder, but we should be aiming for players that are better than Lyon. 

[Hej]

Oakley at least looks like he has something about him, done OK yesterday in what was a chronic team behind him. Muirhead has entered another of his down spells and needs a period on the bench.

[DreamOakTree]

During our 10 game unbeaten run Dougie was picking much the same starting 11 every week, which we all agreed with in the main. There was a togetherness and determination which bonded the team, management and fans. I fear this has been altered by Dougie’s tendency to sign players of similar or lesser quality and pitch them straight into the team, dropping players like McGrattan and Quitongo who’ve been amongst our top performers. Dougie’s obviously proven that he’s a very good coach, but I fear that giving him funds and control of signings has uncovered a flaw in his management strategy. He seems to have his favourites who start games regardless of how they perform, and players who he feels he can drop for no apparent reason, other than maybe they’re not his favourites. I feel some of the players he’s allowed to leave were better than their replacements. I’m hoping this is part of a learning curve and he will fix it and get back the response he was previously getting from the players. 

[RossMcC1874]

This is now an Imrie squad he has managed to clear out the players who clearly he doesn't rate or don't have a future at the club. Looking at the players he has signed there are clearly some really good additions and smart signings he has made like Grimshaw, Crawford, etc. 

I also don't understand the decision to throw players in as soon as they sign. I understand when you sign someone they are clearly someone you rate and obviously want to give them game time as soon as possible but that doesn't mean they deserve to just start immediately they need to earn the right to play as Imrie says.  

In terms of the signings in this window so far I must admit they have been slightly underwhelming. I did like the look of Oakley yesterday I feel like he should be able to grab us some goals if he gets a decent run in the team and we play to his strengths. 

The real issue recently seems to be midfield we have really no cover what so ever and had to pretty much change the shape because Gillespie was suspended. Blues has been missing for the past month and has gone back to the form he was showing before Imrie came in, Muirhead also looks completely off it and not interested he barely run at all yesterday and seems to be again converting back his old ways I would be tempted to bench them both as they have been miles off it.

The last month has been poor in terms of results and performances you can make a lots of excuses for this, lack of home games, poor decisions by the officials but ultimately it's been a case of players not turning up and maybe with the game yesterday getting the tactics wrong. There has been such a brilliant atmosphere at the club since Imrie was appointed and I actually can't remember the last time I was as proud to be a Morton fan but this an extremely sticky patch we are going through and the players need to show a lot more than they have been.

I understand Imrie wants to always be positive about the squad and say about how great they have been since he has been manager but I think now is the time to really have a go at some of them and call them out for how poor they have been the past month. I think he will do that and it's up to the players to show that the confidence he has had in them since he started is not taken for granted or else they won't be playing for us for much longer. 

[ChampTon]

Yesterday was a poor as that hammering we received from ICT. 

Strapp being out leaves us with a gaping hole in our back line and I felt for King yesterday - he was not as bad as Carlo though who should never of started.

Muirhead looking raging going off early and for me if we go back to our regular 4-3-3 he should be on the bench. Dougie used him wisely off the bench last season. 

Next week I'd be going for 

Schwake 

O'Connor Efe Baird King/Miller

Grimshaw Gillespie Crawford 

Quitongo Oakley McGrattan

The big decision is playing Grimshaw in the middle. He gives us some extra steel there and I think McGrattan is more suited as a wide forward. O'Connor played well at RB when he came on against Celtic and Efe gives us some composure at the back and some experience across the backline. Also I think Gillespie will be looking forward to getting back into the team after a poor few weeks for him.

Blues absolutely needs dropped, the game is completely passing him in recent matches. In some cases I'm starting to feel like there's some fatigue kicking in from our players and it turn their performances are dropping. 

If we are bringing in a midfielder on loan I wonder if yesterday actually turns Dougie's attention to bringing in a left back instead. 

Was good to see Oakley play the full game, he looked a touch off the pace at times but I think he will absolutely bag a few goals in the next few months. 

[Admin]

 

Dean and Alan analyse yesterday's 2-1 defeat to Arbroath, the arrival of George Oakley, potential transfers and preview next week's trip to Inverness.